DIY Elbow Patch

While perusing Pinterest one evening, I came across an intriguing tutorial on the wonderful art of needle felting. I had to learn more – especially after realizing it entailed repeatedly stabbing a needle up and down into a piece of fabric or sweater. A satisfying stress reliever that results in something wearable? Sign me up. And now that I can officially call myself a needle felting maven (and nerd), trust me when I say that you’re going to have a blast with this technique. So grab your supplies and let’s get started on a pair of heart shaped elbow patches!

You’ll need:

With the sweater on, place a piece of tape about half an inch below the elbow. Do the same with the opposite elbow. Remove the sweater and insert the foam block into one of the sleeves.

Align and center the bottom of the cookie cutter along the top of the tape. Pinch off a few tufts of wool roving.

Fill the cutter, spreading out the wool fibers evenly.

At the base of all felting needles are tiny, sharp burrs, which grab and interlock the wool fibers. While holding the needle vertically, repeatedly stab it into the wool roving and through the sweater. I found it easier to work around the outer perimeter of the cutter first and then work my way inwards. Important tip: To prevent breaking the needle, always keep the needle upright and never at an angle. And don’t forget to pay careful attention to your fingers while felting as the needle is extremely sharp. Honestly.

Continue stabbing away until the surface is flat and even. Fun, right?!

Remove the cutter and use the tip of the needle to reign in any stray fibers, if necessary. Don’t worry about the holes as they will be mended later.

Patch up any bare or uneven spots by adding more wool roving where needed.

Carefully peel the sweater away from the foam. Notice that the fibers have transferred through to the backside of the sweater.

To smooth and set the patch, spritz with water and press with an iron on the wool setting.

Omfg!!!!!!
Yay.., I LOVE elbow pads! Such a little detail that makes a big statement. I’ve been wanting to DIY my own elbows pads for ages.. But you’ve reminded me to finally do it..
Keep an eye on my blog..

To make this a bit easier, you can purchase wool felt, and it must be 100% wool felt, cut it into a heart shape, place on your sweater and jab away. The felt will incorporate itself into the fabric of the sweater in the same way the roving does.

PS – Emma, if you are using a 100% wool sweater, you probably don’t want to wash it in the first place – it’ll shrink like the dickens, even if you don’t put it in the dryer (and you need to felt onto 100% wool as the felting needle is designed to help tangle the wool fibers around other wool fibers; I’m not sure you’ll be as successful if you are not using 100% wool). And I don’t think the needle felting would come off, but it DEFINITELY would shrink and warp if you put it in the wash. Hand washing SHOULD be okay, but you’ve got to use really cool water, and woolite (or ecover) and not let it soak longer than 3 minutes before rinsing and drying, and you’ll still probably notice that the wool will gradually shrink/contract over time, with repeated hand-launderings, which may cause the elbow of the sweater to pucker and/or the heart shapes to warp into something less adorable. (Still, it’s what I plan to do, honestly; I hand wash most of my wool sweaters cos I simply can’t afford to pay for dry cleaning)

this is such a cute idea! I am a little bit obsessed. but I have a quick question, do both the sweater and the roving need to be wool or can the sweater be some other material? I am slightly allergic to wool so an entire sweater of it would send me over the edge but if it were just the elbows I could totally handle it. let me know! I would love to try this if I could 🙂

WHOA! I never even knew such a thing existed. So cool and so easy! Must try. thank youuuu!
I’ve been looking for something to spruce up my wardrobe. Look at some of my outfits and give suggestions, would you?? I would so appreciate it!

OMG, I had no idea about such incredible craft as needle felting! Girls, thank you so much for ShARinG this diy, <3<3<3
I'm going to do it for sure!!!
Btw, I voted for you on Bloglovin' and hope you win!!!

@Ran @Jillian no, the patch will not come off and is not removable. And wool should always be dry cleaned or carefully hand washed. @Beindolwen yes, you can make patches in any shape. I like using cookie cutters which obviously come in all shapes and sizes, including stars!

This is such a great way to add a personal touch to my old cardigan! I have never heard of needle felting until now, and it looks so much better than a cut-out and sewn-on patch of craft felt would. Thanks for sharing this project!

Thanks for this DIY! I spent the week gathering supplies and did it this afternoon. I LOVE the results. The first time I put too much wool roving in the cookie cutter, but it was easy to peel off and try again once I had it down.

So cool! I’ve seen needle felting mentioned elsewhere but never really knew what went into it. Great idea for a beginner project. I think I have hand and star-shaped cookie cutters which would be equally neato for a patch.

wonderful idea, I have all the materials necessary to try something similar. I am interested in the question of washing? wash your hands in cold water, perhaps? or not to wash? you certainly have the experience, please share
…. and greetings from Moscow 🙂

Just an update, I purchased wool roving @ Hobby Lobby, a great big bag of various colors! I did my first trial on a very nice 100% wool sweater (mens actually for a good price on evilbay), turned out well! I was actually surprised at how easy it really was. I had LOTS of roving left over. THEN, while I was at Walmart…yeah, I know…..they had little girls sweaters on clearance for $7. They were acrylic and cotton (I believe more acrylic than cotton…the cheap ones! LOL) So I purchased one to try it out, and if it worked, my niece would get a cute sweater out of the deal! I followed all these instructions, BUT I made sure to really get a good amount of the roving through to the other side. THEN, I even washed it! *gasp!* I washed on gentle, in cold water, and then I did the unthinkable….I tumble dryed on ‘cool’ for about 10 minutes. It turned out PERFECT! The wool felted just enough to really keep it in place, but not enough to shrink horribly and distort the shape or wrinkle the sweater sleeves. I wouldn’t do the same if I was planning on a large design, as it would be too noticable, but for a little girls sweater, it turned out fine!

Thank you for this, I have shared this on my blog because it is inspirational. We are just starting to experience the first signs of Autumn here in Melbourne and the other day I pulled out a boring black merino wool top and give it a new look..which I am sure my friends will ask about. Please check out my blog if you have the time.

Love this DIY! It’s a little bit unclear to me though.. Do you have to put the sweater inside out?
‘Cause I don’t really get it after the step ‘take out the foam’ it looks to me as if you put the sweater inside out..?
Xo

I’m about to go on uni holidays for 6 weeks but I won’t have a minute to spare with all these awesome projects! I will be little miss felting heart elbow patch just you wait. You’re my new favourite imaginary friend 🙂

Just wondering about how long you have to be doing this before you see it start to flatten and look like that photo? I tried this and was at it for nearly 3 hours and was getting no where. My craft store only sold one type of felting needle, so I’m wondering if that’s the case? 🙁 🙁 :(.

does the sweater need to be turned inside out. this is confusing one photo all the felt is inside the next its all been pulled back out……i guess im dumb but this makes no sense 🙁 and i wanna try this but those last steps are drawing a zigzag instead of a straight line for me

I am an Editor at Ladies Home Journal and would like to include your heart patch picture in a future issue of the magazine. Since this was a DIY project, I am assuming that this was an original photo taken by you? Would love to talk more, and fill you in on details of the story I’m working on. I hope to hear from you – rachel.shippy@meredith.com

Hi Erica! I found this super cute tutorial via Pinterest, and I do hope that you don’t mind me sharing it over on my blog! I have done a blog post on cardigan make-overs, and have included this as one of my favourites, with a link back here. Tania ♥

can you use any sweater or does it have to be made out of wool???? i would love to do this for my friend but i can’t find any wool sweaters she would like. I would love to try it on a hoodie….. this is such an adorable idea. thank you so much for sharing how you did this!

I bought an 82% merino wool sweater and no luck. I am not sure what my problem is. Is it the sweater? Could it be the needle? (The felting kit I bought does not say what gauge it is.) Can anyone help? Thanks!

Gonna use this technique to make some creative tacky Christmas sweaters next year. I don’t knit so this will be a super easy and fun alternative that I can use to create fun sweaters for my kids and family members. Yay, so excited to be able to use my cookie cutters for something other than salt dough ornaments. The possibilities are endless.

These are so cute! My kids will love these and I do not even have to sew 🙂 Sewing is not at all my specialty (ok I am not at all good at it lol.) Thank you for showing us step by step, I will have some fun doing this project!

I love this! I just started needle felting a few months ago, and really enjoy it; I am always looking at things wondering how it would look in felt. When people ask me just what it is, I tell them the closest thing I can think of is that it is like tattooing fabric with wool. 🙂 It would be great to see more of your projects!

I found your wonderful DIY on Polyvore. It was linked from someone who liked my set on an outfit to wear for a walk on Valentine’s.How round about is that? I am so glad that I came over. Your instructions are very clear and your idea is just tremendous. I don’t know if I will try this ( I am in hot Arizona, and don’t have any wool sweaters) , but I will be checking in often because you are very talented and generous with your hobby. Thank-you.

This is so great! Now every shirt of mine is going to have an elbow patch! If you’re looking for other ways to get the most out of your current wardrobe, check out my post here >> http://bit.ly/1hYoRxS

I love this idea! This is such a fun and simple way to create elbow patches without and cutting or sewing. I love the look of the elbow patch but I’m not very good with sewing or anything so this DIY is perfect for me! It’s so creative that they are in the shape of a heart. I will definitely be trying this out.

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Thanks for this How To, I’ve just repaired my wool cardigan which had holes in the elbows (I must have very abrasive elbows!). I wasn’t sure how much roving I’d need so I ordered 50g, this was PLENTY, I didn’t even use a quarter of that to do both elbows.